Golden Snail Yunnan Black Tea

The dry leaves smell fantastic, like chocolate almost. It was a real shock to me to be greeted with such a wonderful chocolate-y scent. The wet leaves are like somewhat nutty kind of, I think.

For this review, I did a few rounds of gongfu!

First infusion was awesome. So, so creamy mouthfeel!! I really enjoyed this one immediately. The chocolate flavoring comes through in the tea, along with that characteristic malty taste. I thought the smell was a bit neutral, but the taste is great. Very, very cocoa-y. I enjoyed this immensely. RATE: 8/10

Second infusion came out quite a bit darker, which might have been my fault. The smell was a bit stronger than the first time around too, it reminded me back to that chocolate leaf scent. The taste is less chocolate this time, more neutralized. I think I oversteeped this one a little, as it had a bit of a bitter aftertaste, but that didn’t take away from the overall experience. It was pretty good, if not a little neutral. Actually, thinking about it, the cocoa flavor from before now comes through as a more bitter cocoa, like dark chocolate. Very interesting. Second infusion was overall pretty good. RATE: 6.5/10

Third and final infusion tonight ended the experience with roasted cocoa notes, very yum. The bitterness from before has gone away and a more neutral roasty flavor has replaced it. Also, the color! Beautiful! Very reddened, so nice. That malt comes back too, but not as strong as in the first infusion (it was almost absent in the second one). This infusion’s flavor is very complex, and I am not sure how to describe it. Definitely very “tea”. RATE: 7.5/10

Overall, this tea was awesome! I love it. It was so tasty, and dynamic between infusions. Very interesting overall, and I will most likely buy more of it once I get done with what I’ve got. Very, very good.

These dry snails are so pretty and it is an experience to watch them unfurl.
This tea smells amazing.

The taste is pretty spectacular. It is sweet potatoe and honey bread. There are slighter notes of malt, chocolate, and molasses. I didn’t get any gardenia notes as in the description, but it does have a creamy mouthfeel.

I am really loving these yunnan black teas.

I resteeped for 5&8 minutes.

This tea is really solid. I was drinking with it with a friend whom I’m trying to get into tea, so I decided to do one of my favorite blacks. We were talking and all of a sudden he says, “I feel really relaxed…Like abnormally relaxed. Is that the tea?”

I laughed and said, “Yeup, that’s the tea!”

I proceded to give him some of my tea in hopes that he’ll get into it and share with his friends and family.

Tea is good!

This is the 2015 harvest.

Prepared with gongfu sessions, with a ceramic gaiwan. No rinse. I first followed the website steeping times (20, 15, 30, 45, 75), but I prefer winging them.

I appreciate the dry leaf aroma most after letting the leaves sit in a heated gaiwan. First there were sweet potatoes (very sweet and without the skin, like they were mashed – a first for Chinese sweet potato teas with me), and then spices such as clove and black cardamon.

I was a little sad to make the first infusion. These leaves are pretty (I admit – the picture on the website partially contributed to the purchase. Sucker for good pics.). Cute little curly things, gold and black intertwining on each leaf. Well, now they’re simply brown. That’s alright. A black pepper aroma arises. After another infusion or two, the wet leaf releases raw hot cocoa. Gaiwans are good for these snails.

The liquor color is a beautiful orange-gold. I recommend drinking this from a white cup. Full-bodied, smooth, thick. Sweet with a touch of bitterness from a sweet potato flavor, which appears throughout the session. I pretty much only discern sweet potato, with the exception of some chocolate and wet wood in the aftertaste. Overall, this has a warming and cozy effect, simultaneously energizing. It helps me put up with the cold (although, winter is unbelievably mild this year – still).

Eh, sweet potato. I’m not that much into it and Chinese black teas with this note. I still much like this one.

This tea is amazing. I’m on my second pot as I write this (instead of doing my homework).

The leaf is a beautiful swirl of black and gold with a sweet, chocolatey smell. It’s kind of fun to watch it unfurl as it steeps. Definitely one for the clear glass pot. I used 2 tsp in my 16 oz teapot with boiling water. I let it steep for 3 minutes (5 on the second pot). The tea is a warm, rich, yellow amber with the most delicious roasted nut/malt/barley/baked bread smell (it kinda makes me want to bake actually). It’s hard to pin-point exactly what that glorious aroma is but every time I breath it in I get excited for the sip I’m about to take.

The flavor is amazing. There is a roasted malt, baked bread, nutty, earthy (but not bitter or dirty), complex flavor that is everything I want in this tea and more. It tastes almost exactly like it smells. I could rave about this tea all day. Safe to say I will be buying as much of this tea in the future as possible. Drinking this tea makes me feel amazing.

One note, sugar seems to destroy this tea. Mom tried a pinch in her tea and it was pretty gross. It turns the smell acrid as well. Very unpleasant.

I brewed this one gongfu using the spects recommended by the vendor. I am impressed as this is the first time that I was able to call gongfu brewing a black tea a success. The first sip of this tea brings a surprising mix of smoothness and sweetness. The flavor notes do indeed have a bit of cocoa and molasses as described by the vendor. As the infusions the flavor of the tea increased as the light sweet smoothness faded away.

From Here’s Hoping TTB, R5

Where’s all the lovely notes in the description? Tastes like smoke. Blergh. Not my cup of tea.

=(

Beautiful tea – not a beautiful taste
Taste very dusty, almost like chalk

I opened the bag and notes of milk chocolate hit my nose immediately. I brewed this gong fu and I get cacao, malt, dark chocolate. I also got a surprising sweetness to it that I have not gotten from any other black tea I have had. Pretty decent black.

The first steep is pure heaven! Fresh baked biscuits with sourwood honey (from Savanah Bee Company – try it!) accompanied by creamy cacao & sweet potato. The scent alone is worth the price of admission. That being said, I was surprised that the second steep had lost all of the baked biscuit goodness to be replaced with a burned ash taste. An “off” flavor for me. Still drinkable, but not enjoyable. I lost interest on the 3rd steep & discarded it. I brewed in my Breville at 195° on my second morning with this tea. The first brew at 205° resulted in some slight bitterness. If the 2nd and 3rd steep had been better, I would have given this tea a perfect score. Will I purchase again? Yes, but for that first steep only, making this less economical than anticipated.